I found my sister's cassette copy of XTC's Skylarking in the spring when I was 13. I remember really liking the way the album breathed, but being a little uneasy about it. It was one of those gateway albums that segued me from pop radio to artier, more idiosyncratic stuff. I waded in gingerly, the lack of a listening community making early listens feel like I'd stumbled onto strange territory. But the record's self-assured breeziness won out, and I was happy to start having bands that I could spread the news about. Over the years, Skylarking's luster has dimmed. The band's post-punk early albums are still compellingly cockeyed, and their Dukes of Stratosphear incarnation did '60s psychedelia note-perfectly. On the other hand, this record at least has Todd Rundgren going for it. And this track—with its dorky take on failed romance via the language of superpowers—has springtime running all through it, including the key element of melancholy riding the breeze.
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